POLTERGEISTS and ghosts are troubling staff at a former Victorian lunatic asylum in Chester.

Staff at the 1829 building on the West Cheshire Hospital campus in Liverpool Road have reported a number of sightings including a mysterious woman in black.

The building, now home to offices of the Cheshire West Primary Care Trust, Mersey Regional Ambulance, and Cheshire Health Agency, was formerly known as the County Lunatic Asylum, Cheshire.

When the asylum first opened its doors, the first pauper patients arrived from the workhouses and poor houses; others came as criminal lunatics

Some patients with severe problems were chained up and restrained in strait-jackets while others were tied to their beds with belts.

A number of patients died whilst staying in the building, which included padded cells, and staff fear that their ghosts are still stalking the building.

A number of sightings have been reported of a mysterious woman in black who is said have appeared on the wards ahead of a patient's death back in the 1800s. She is said to be still around today.

A security guard recently unlocked the building on arriving for morning duty and saw a figure sitting at a desk. When he turned to look again the figure had disappeared.

The issue of ghosts in the building was raised a month ago after a Unison union meeting at the hospital which is on the same site as the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Stan Murphy, who works as a part-time nurse at the West Cheshire Hospital, was told by Unison rep Kara James that ghosts were troubling staff.

'Kara told me that staff were experiencing things and that things were happening. She said staff are terrified after seeing and hearing things,' said Mr Murphy, who has just written a book to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the West Cheshire Hospital.

'I took it all with a pinch of salt because there have been stories about ghosts in the building for years.'

Mr Murphy, of Dicksons Drive, Newton, Chester, began working at the hospital aged 15 and experienced a strange happening whilst on night duty when he was 20.

He heard footsteps coming down a corridor and suddenly sensed someone was sitting next to him although he could not see anyone.

Kara James says there have been stories involving ghosts at the 1829 building for years but says she has never experienced a poltergeist.

'I have not seen it myself but there is a story said to involve a woman in black,' she said.

Phil Houlston, director of the Cheshire West Primary Care Trust, said: 'There have been stories about ghosts here for years.

'People have said they have seen something and there are various stories, one said to involve a woman in black.

'People have said they have seen her from an outside window. '

Ghosts at the health park come on the back of a new survey by Liverpool paranormal investigators Parascience who say Chester is England's most haunted city.

Dave Sadler of Parascience said: 'My belief is that Chester, for its size, has the most haunted activity in the country. The amount of ghosts per street in Chester is phenomenal.'